Bearclaw Valley all i want

she frowns, her ears tipping backward as she looked up to him. searching, perhaps for what he wasn't revealing, what he could not say. he was blaming himself for what had happened, and it pained her. it wasn't his fault. none of it had been his fault. "don't say such things. you couldn't have known, and i—" her gaze falters, back towards her legs, wrapped and healing, and sure to scar. 

"it was my fault. i should've stayed closer to the heart of bearclaw." guilt. so much guilt, for an attack no one could've prevented other than herself, for making cole believe all of the blood and pain was a stain on his conscious. 

stupid little plover, a voice from within hisses at her. it sounds eerily like her ex-fiancé, the one she'd fled from. do as your told, you're too weak for anything else.

she shuts her eyes for a moment, inhales a shaky breath. calm yourself. and when she re-opens them, she smiles at cole. soft and weepy, affectionate. "you were there to save me. that is what matters."

upon his command, she falls silent. falling in step beside him, quiet as he led the hunt with her as his quiet companion.